Age-Related Speech Comprehension: Sensory and Cognitive Dynamics - Essay Sample

Abstract

Memory research is a controversial issue because different individuals have different capacities. The age-related problem in speech comprehension is a common problem among adults. The problem is as a result of the ill-fated combination of sensory and cognitive dynamics taking place. During health aging, the ability of adults to comprehend speeches tends to decrease (Presacco, Simon & Anderson, 2019). As a result, older adults illustrate less entrainment to stimuli-related frequency compared to young adults. In this regard, it is critical to understand comprehension changes that take place among older individuals. However, it is challenging to understand speech comprehension among different individuals because of the potential differences in the executive memory process. When developing care campaigns, it is vital to consider communication issues affecting older adults and develop multi-communication techniques to ensure they comprehend the message as intended. Memory research results should inform public health campaigns meant to reach out to older adults, making the programs effective and appealing because it helps to structure sentences correctly and helps to use the most effective communication technique appealing to the target audience.

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Introduction

Aging is one of the factors causing language and speech comprehension issues. Although the field has not received adequate research attention, there is overwhelming evidence illustrating that older adults face serious challenges regarding speech comprehension. Aging leads to a decline in memory, affecting the ability of individuals to interpret speeches correctly. Understandably, hearing loss has a direct relationship with aging for individuals aged over 60. The ability to understand and interpret speeches correctly depends on the brain networks and regions, such as the premotor cortex and temporal cortex (DeCaro, Peelle, Grossman & Wingfield, 2016). Aging brings significant changes, affecting neural structures and brain networks that contain cognition. The changes cause behavioral changes, such as a reduction in the efficiency of the working memory and reduction in general cognitive operations, leading to poor information and data retrieval for recent events. However, memory research is a controversial issue because of the varying age structures, and complexities among individuals.

Notably, these changes are associated with a poor combination of perceptual and cognitive factors. However, up to date, there is scientific evidence linking sensory to cortical speech and underlying factors that explain these interactions. Nevertheless, the neural response to a decline in speech comprehension explains evidence of deteriorating understanding in older adults (Peelle, Troiani, Grossman & Wingfield, 2011). Loss of hearing is the third most chronic condition of older adults internationally. The leading conditions include arthritis and hypertension. Therefore, it is an issue of concern because failing to consider the comprehension abilities of older adults could lead to communication breakdown.

Memory research is an essential issue that helps to understand the ability of older adults to comprehend speeches. The issue is essential since it helps healthcare professionals and psychological experts to develop intervention programs that would be most effective. Psychologists and healthcare providers should understand factors affecting communication with their older clients and formulate communication techniques to ensure effective communication (Silagi, Rabelo, Schochat & Mansur, 2015). However, other professionals argue that memory research should not be the basis of informed decisions because of varying perceptions, and communication abilities among individuals. Also, older adults suffer from unique old-age conditions that affect their brain networks; hence, it is difficult to standardize memory capacities among all individuals. The essay argues that memory research should inform public health awareness programs because it promotes the use of appropriate message communication techniques, and techniques that resonate with target population needs, as well as counterclaim. It will also provide counterclaims against memory research and rebuttal claims for the counterarguments. It will conclude by providing a summary of the essay, highlighting critical findings.

Argument

Memory research should be used to inform public healthcare campaigns targeting older adults because it helps to contextually disseminate the information appropriately. The intelligibility of individuals differs from one age group to another. Age variability affects the ability of individuals to interpret speeches and information because of differences in processing speed and the stability of the working memory. Executive functions of the brain allow individuals to direct their attention to the speaker, and process appropriate and relevant information (Ward, Rogers, Engen & Peelle, 2016). Furthermore, the use of contextual information, and language used in the speech may contribute to differences in interpreting the message. Therefore, it will be misleading to fail to consider communication issues among older adults. Therefore, psychologists must make informed decisions based on memory research so that they develop effective communication techniques, making it easy for older adults to understand the message. Additionally, memory research should inform public health campaigns since it helps to understand the processing speed of the target audience (Wayne, Hamilton, Jones, Huyck & Johnsrude, 2016). The slow processing speed among older adults makes it difficult to understand and interpret speech in a noisy place. Memory processing speed and the performance of executive functions deteriorate with age. Although the problem is also available in young adults, it is common in older adults because of their old-age conditions that influence their ability to process speech faster. Consequently, poor listening conditions worsen the situation; hence, the need to understand memory factors affecting speech comprehension among individuals aged 60 and above. Therefore, it is critical for healthcare professionals to understand how the memory of older adults work and try to communicate information in the most effective way.

The second reason why psychologists and healthcare providers should make informed decisions based on memory research is that it helps to understand how older adults process syntactically complex sentences. When communicating with older adults, it is a good idea to understand how they process and interpret complex sentences. Older adults do not process syntactically complex sentences effectively as young people (Kelley & Whatson, 2013). Consequently, their compensation and derived meaning can be different from young adults. For aged individuals, they may apply additional brain areas to understand speech normally but these regions cannot effectively compensate with an increase in the challenge. Therefore, when developing public health policies, it is important to understand how aged individuals interpret complex sentences and the speed at which they process the information. For example, in this era of millennials, the use of slang language is communication. Individuals from different generations may not understand the slang language, and this would be challenging to the target population since they miss out critical information (Ayasse, Lash & Wingfield, 2017). Furthermore, the length of sentences used in speech affect the ability of aged individuals to comprehend the message as intended. Using long sentences in speeches increases the demand for working memory. Sentence structure is one of the stimuli that influence efficiency in communication. Communication cannot be effective without understanding the efficiency of sentence structures and how aged individuals respond to these changes (Peelle, Troiani, Eingfield & Grossman, 2009). Therefore, communicators should make informed decisions, including the use of simple and short sentences. In this way, public health speeches should be simple, considering the fact that the information focuses on aged individuals. Failing to consider memory research results would lead to the delivery of speeches that are not appealing to the population, and they would misinterpret the message, leading to communication breakdown. Successful cognitive processing requires effective coordination of activities across the brain, and any difference explains behavioral effects among individuals. According to the experiment by Peelle, Troiani, Eingfield & Grossman, most young people showed faster connectivity compared to older adults, and this shows significant evidence that greater connectivity in the brain takes place at a younger age compare to adulthood (Peelle et al., 2009). As a result, speech comprehension differs in adulthood due to a decline in the ability of the memory to process a speech and sentences. Consequently, healthcare professionals and psychologists should understand how the brain network of adults function and deliver appropriate speeches for greater connectivity.

Although there is overwhelming evidence that the speed of processing information has a direct link with the age of individuals, some professionals dismiss this claim because at old age there is a wider range of disorders that influence the efficiency of braining (Haworth, Phillips, Newson, Rogers, Torrens-Burton & Tales, 2016). For example, degenerative brain changes, including Alzheimer and vascular dementia contribute significantly to the decline of brain functions. The efficiency of brain functions depends on factors, such as the reaction time. Due to the availability of these conditions in many adults, their brain functions tend to slow down. Many investigations have concentrated on the fact that aging is the primary factor influencing brain's reaction time and this is not true because of the presence of other factors, such as hypertension and arthritis that are common at old age (Haworth et al., 2016). Many factors influence the brain's reaction time and this means that singling out aging as the primary factor is not true; hence, the need to develop holistic research to underline all potential factors that affect the effective functioning of the brain functions at old age. Therefore, making informed decisions based on memory research will not reflect accurate information and this could lead to misinterpretation.

Aging affects many processing stages in the brain. Among these factors include a decline in alertness and attention and slow stimulus perception. Also, there is a slow transmission of information between the motor cortex and sensory system. These factors among others create a significant difference between young and older people when it comes to comprehending a speech (Woods, Wyma, Yund, Herron & Reed, 2015). However, it is worth noting that age-related changes are not uniform because of the differences in different stages of processing. Simple reaction time and cognitive reaction response rate differ according to the ages and this creates a challenge to conclude that age is the only factor that affects speech comprehension among adults (Woods et al., 2015). For example, cognitive reaction time latency increases as the age of individuals increase. It means that latency for individuals aged 50 to 60 cannot be the same as of the individuals aged above 60 years. The investigation shows that age-related complexities differ from one individual to another, leading to a conclusion memory research results s...